Green snow in Antarctica: The weird and alarming effects of climate change on the frozen continent

While the algal blooms causing green snow certainly make for a spectacular sight, they are also yet another indication of just how quickly temperatures in Antarctica are rising.

Scientists predict the green snow to spread across the continent in the coming years.&nbsp | &nbspPhoto Credit:&nbspTwitter

Key Highlights

Researchers found that the green snow appears across the Antarctic coast, typically in warmer areas where average temperatures could exceed that of freezing point during summers

The Antarctic peninsula is the fastest warming place on the planet, with studies showing that, over the last five decades, average temperatures rose by 3 degrees Celsius

The total ice mass lost from the Antarctic Ice Sheet has increased from around 40 billion tons annually between 1979 and 1990, to around 252 billion tons a year between 2009 and 2017

If you're planning a trip to Antarctica any time soon, be prepared to have any prior conceptions about what it may look like completely dispelled. A substantial amount of the southern continent's snow is no longer white, but green. Scientists have predicted that in the coming years, the green snow is likely to spread across Antarctica – a result of warmer temperatures and climate change.

A study published earlier this week in Nature Communications, notes that the emergence of the green snow is being caused by the propagation of microscopic algae on its surface. Through satellite and field observations, the British Antarctic Survey, alongside researchers from the University of Cambridge have, for the first time, managed to generate a large-scale map of the green algae and project how it may spread in the future.

Researchers found that the green snow appears across the Antarctic coast, typically in warmer areas where average temperatures could exceed that of freezing point during summers. Although microscopic, the algae had spread so much that it was now visible from space.

The team of scientists also found that the green snow was distributed prominently in those areas that mammals and marine birds inhabit, with their excrement acting as a fertisiler. More than 60 per cent of the algal blooms were found beside penguin colonies.

Record temperatures in the Antarctic peninsula

Although the researchers noted that the algae may lose key nutrient sources if climate change affects bird populations, they concluded that the green snow would continue to flourish as long as a ready supply of water was available. The Antarctic peninsula is the fastest warming place on the planet, with studies showing that, over the last five decades, average temperatures rose by 3 degrees Celsius, much higher than the global average of 0.9. In February, researchers recorded the highest ever temperature on the continent at 18.3 degrees Celsius.

What's more, it isn't just the continent that's heating up, but the oceans around it as well. Parts of the Southern Ocean have warmed by 3 degrees Celsius, increasing the rate of ice loss, and exposing more ice shelves to warmer waters, particularly in East Antarctica.

Antarctica melting rapidly

Scientists have estimated that the total ice mass lost from the Antarctic Ice Sheet has increased from around 40 billion tons annually between 1979 and 1990, to around 252 billion tons a year between 2009 and 2017. However, some ice shelves like that of the Ross Ice Shelf, critical to the structural integrity of the continent, could be melting a factor of ten faster than other parts.

Another recent study published in March, conducted by the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise team, made up of 89 scientists from 50 organisations, found that at the current rate of melting, the region is on track to actualise the “worst-case” scenario of the IPCC that predicts a 17cm rise in sea level by the end of the century.

Even a single cm rise in sea level has the potential to cause widespread flooding and soil erosion, that could displace coastal communities permanently.

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